§2.34.1τῆς δὲ Τροιζηνίας γῆς ἐστιν ἰσθμὸς ἐπὶ πολὺ διέχων ἐς θάλασσαν, ἐν δὲ αὐτῷ πόλισμα οὐ μέγα ἐπὶ θαλάσσῃ Μέθανα ᾤκισται.
In the Troezenian territory there is an isthmus extending far into the sea, on which is situated Methana, a small town on the coast.
Ἴσιδος δὲ ἐνταῦθα ἱερόν ἐστι καὶ ἄγαλμα ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς Ἑρμοῦ, τὸ δὲ ἕτερον Ἡρακλέους.
There is a temple of Isis here, and on the marketplace is a statue of Hermes, and the other is of Heracles.
τοῦ δὲ πολίσματος τριάκοντά που στάδια ἀπέχει θερμὰ λουτρά· φασὶ δὲ Ἀντιγόνου τοῦ Δημητρίου Μακεδόνων βασιλεύοντος τότε πρῶτον τὸ ὕδωρ φανῆναι, φανῆναι δὲ οὐχ ὕδωρ εὐθὺς ἀλλὰ πῦρ ἀναζέσαι πολὺ ἐκ τῆς γῆς, ἐπὶ δὲ τούτῳ μαρανθέντι ῥυῆναι τὸ ὕδωρ, ὃ δὴ καὶ ἐς ἡμᾶς ἄνεισι θερμόν τε καὶ δεινῶς ἁλμυρόν.
About thirty stades from the town are hot springs; they say that when Antigonus, son of Demetrius, was king of the Macedonians, then for the first time the water appeared, and that what appeared at first was not water, but a great fire boiled up from the earth, and when this had died down, the water flowed, which indeed rises up even to our day, hot and terribly salty.
λουσαμένῳ δὲ ἐνταῦθα οὔτε ὕδωρ ἐστὶν ἐγγὺς ψυχρὸν οὔτε ἐσπεσόντα ἐς τὴν θάλασσαν ἀκινδύνως νήχεσθαι· θηρία γὰρ καὶ ἄλλα καὶ κύνας παρέχεται πλείστους.
For one who bathes there, there is no cold water nearby, nor is it safe to plunge into the sea and swim, because it produces, among other sea monsters, a great number of sea-dogs.
§2.34.2ὃ δὲ ἐθαύμασα ἐν τοῖς Μεθάνοις μάλιστα, γράψω καὶ τοῦτο.
What I marvelled at most in Methana, I will write this too.
ἄνεμος ὁ Λὶψ βλαστανούσαις ταῖς ἀμπέλοις ἐμπίπτων ἐκ τοῦ Σαρωνικοῦ κόλπου τὴν βλάστην σφῶν ἀφαυαίνει· κατιόντος οὖν ἔτι τοῦ πνεύματος ἀλεκτρυόνα τὰ πτερὰ ἔχοντα διὰ παντὸς λευκὰ διελόντες ἄνδρες δύο ἐναντίοι περιθέουσι τὰς ἀμπέλους, ἥμισυ ἑκάτερος τοῦ ἀλεκτρυόνος φέρων· ἀφικόμενοι δʼ ἐς τὸ αὐτὸ ὅθεν ὡρμήθησαν, κατορύσσουσιν ἐνταῦθα.
The south-west wind, Lips, falling upon the vines as they are budding from the Saronic Gulf, dries up their buds; so, while the wind is still blowing down, two men, having torn in two a cock with entirely white feathers, run in opposite directions around the vines, each carrying half of the cock; and when they arrive at the same place from which they started, they bury it there.
§2.34.3τοῦτο μὲν πρὸς τὸν Λίβα σφίσιν ἐστὶν εὑρημένον· τὰς δὲ νησῖδας αἳ πρόκεινται τῆς χώρας ἀριθμὸν ἐννέα οὔσας Πέλοπος μὲν καλοῦσι, τοῦ θεοῦ δὲ ὕοντος μίαν ἐξ αὐτῶν οὔ φασιν ὕεσθαι.
This is what they have devised against the Lips; but the small islands that lie off the land, being nine in number, they call the islands of Pelops, and they say that when the god rains, one of them is not rained upon.
τοῦτο δὲ εἰ τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν οὐκ οἶδα, ἔλεγον δὲ οἱ περὶ τὰ Μέθανα, ἐπεὶ χάλαζάν γε ἤδη θυσίαις εἶδον καὶ ἐπῳδαῖς ἀνθρώπους ἀποτρέποντας.
Whether this is so I do not know, but the people around Methana said so, since I have already seen men averting hail with sacrifices and incantations.
§2.34.4τὰ μὲν δὴ Μέθανα ἰσθμός ἐστι τῆς Πελοποννήσου· ἐντὸς δὲ τοῦ ἰσθμοῦ τῆς Τροιζηνίων ὅμορός ἐστιν Ἑρμιόνη.
Now Methana is an isthmus of the Peloponnese; inside the isthmus, Hermione is adjacent to the territory of the Troezenians.
οἰκιστὴν δὲ τῆς ἀρχαίας πόλεως Ἑρμιονεῖς γενέσθαι φασὶν Ἑρμίονα Εὔρωπος.
The Hermionians say that the founder of the ancient city was Hermione, son of Europe.
τὸν δὲ Εὔρωπα —ἦν γὰρ δὴ Φορωνέως—Ἡροφάνης ὁ Τροιζήνιος ἔφασκεν εἶναι νόθον· οὐ γὰρ δή ποτε ἐς Ἄργον τὸν Νιόβης θυγατριδοῦν ὄντα Φορωνέως τὴν ἐν Ἄργει περιελθεῖν ἂν ἀρχὴν παρόντος Φορωνεῖ γνησίου παιδός.
But Europe—for he was indeed the son of Phoroneus—Herophanes of Troezen asserted to be illegitimate; for never would the rule in Argos have passed to Argos, the son of Niobe and daughter's son of Phoroneus, if Phoroneus had had a legitimate child present.
§2.34.5ἐγὼ δέ, εἰ καὶ γνήσιον ὄντα Εὔρωπα πρότερον τὸ χρεὼν ἢ Φορωνέα ἐπέλαβεν, εὖ οἶδα ὡς οὐκ ἔμελλεν ὁ παῖς αὐτῷ Νιόβης παιδὶ ἴσα οἴσεσθαι Διός γε εἶναι δοκοῦντι.
But for my part, even if Europe was legitimate, and his fate overtook him before Phoroneus, I know well that his child was not likely to carry equal weight with Niobe's child, who was reputed to be the son of Zeus.
ἐπῴκησαν δὲ καὶ Ἑρμιόνα ὕστερον Δωριεῖς οἱ ἐξ Ἄργους· πόλεμον δὲ οὐ δοκῶ γενέσθαι σφίσιν, ἐλέγετο γὰρ ἂν ὑπὸ Ἀργείων.
Later, Dorians from Argos also settled in Hermione; but I do not think there was a war between them, for it would have been mentioned by the Argives.
§2.34.6ἔστι δὲ ὁδὸς ἔς Ἑρμιόνα ἐκ Τροιζῆνος κατὰ τὴν πέτραν ἣ πρότερον μὲν ἐκαλεῖτο Σθενίου Διὸς βωμός, μετὰ δὲ Θησέα ἀνελόμενον τὰ γνωρίσματα ὀνομάζουσιν οἱ νῦν Θησέως αὐτήν.
There is a road to Hermione from Troezen by the rock which was previously called the altar of Zeus Sthenius, but after Theseus took up the tokens, people of today call it the rock of Theseus.
κατὰ ταύτην οὖν τὴν πέτραν ἰοῦσιν ὀρεινὴν ὁδόν, ἔστι μὲν Ἀπόλλωνος ἐπίκλησιν Πλατανιστίου ναός, ἔστι δὲ Εἰλεοὶ χωρίον, ἐν δὲ αὐτῷ Δήμητρος καὶ Κόρης τῆς Δήμητρος ἱερά· τὰ δὲ πρὸς θάλασσαν ἐν ὅροις τῆς Ἑρμιονίδος ἱερὸν Δήμητρός ἐστιν ἐπίκλησιν Θερμασίας.
As you go along the mountain road by this rock, there is a temple of Apollo surnamed Platanistius, and there is a place called Eileoi, in which are sanctuaries of Demeter and of the Maid, daughter of Demeter; and the parts toward the sea, on the borders of the Hermionid, there is a sanctuary of Demeter surnamed Thermasia.